As known solid-state imaging apparatus, there are line sensors and image sensors using a CCD (charge coupled device), a CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) device, or any other solid-state imaging device. Any of the solid-state imaging apparatus is widely used as an imaging unit in a digital video camcorder, a digital still camera, a digital camera capable of capturing both video images and still images, a mobile phone, and other electronic systems. In the present specification, digital video camcorders, digital still cameras, digital cameras capable of capturing both video images and still images are collectively called digital cameras.
A solid-state imaging apparatus of the type described above includes a sensor unit in which a solid-state imaging device is mounted on a substrate and pads on the solid-state imaging device are electrically connected to lead islands on the substrate with bonding wires. The solid-state imaging apparatus is formed by attaching a frame member that has a frame-like shape or a box-like shape with a bottom and surrounds side portions of the solid-state imaging device to the sensor unit and accommodating an optical member that guides incident light to an imaging surface of the solid-state imaging device in an upper portion of the frame member (see JP-A-2002-57311 and JP-A-2006-313868, for example). The optical member may, for example, be formed of a single lens or a plurality of lenses and an IR cutoff filter when the solid-state imaging apparatus is a camera module, whereas being formed of a cover glass plate or any other similar component when the solid-state imaging apparatus is a sensor package.
FIG. 16 is a diagrammatic cross-sectional view of a camera module (also referred to as lens module and sensor module) 600 as a typical solid-state imaging apparatus of related art used in a mobile phone, a compact digital camera, and other apparatus. The camera module 600 generally includes a sensor unit 601 and a lens unit 602, as shown in FIG. 16.
The sensor unit 601 primarily includes a solid-state imaging device 610 formed of a sensor chip, such as a CCD chip and a CMOS chip described above, a substrate 620, such as an interposer, and bonding wires 630. The solid-state imaging device 610 is mounted on the substrate 620 and fixed thereto via a die-bonding member 626. Pads 615 on the solid-state imaging device 610 are electrically connected to lead islands 625 on the substrate 620 with the bonding wires 630. The sensor unit 601 is thus formed.
The lens unit 602 is primarily formed of a frame member 650 and an optical member 660. The frame member 650 generally has a frame-like or tubular shape that is open upward and downward and surrounds the bonding wires 630. The optical member 660 is accommodated in the opening of the frame member 650. The frame member 650 (lens unit 602) is fixed to the substrate 620 by bonding the lower end of a leg portion that is part of the frame member 650 and extends downward to the upper surface of the substrate 620 but outside the connected portions of the bonding wires 630.
The optical member 660, which is so accommodated in an upper portion of the frame member 650 that the optical member 660 faces the imaging surface of the solid-state imaging device 610, transmits light incident from above (subject image) and guides it to the solid-state imaging device 610. In the present exemplary configuration, the optical member 660 includes lenses 661 (661a, 661b, and 661c) and an IR cutoff filter (hereinafter referred to as “IRCF”) 662.
The lenses 661 are accommodated in a lens holder 665 and held therein and movable upward and downward by a lens drive mechanism 666 provided in the frame member 650. The lenses 661 transmit the subject image incident from above and focus it on the imaging surface of the solid-state imaging device 610.
In the thus configured camera module 600, the subject image having passed through the optical member 660 and having been focused on the imaging surface is converted by the solid-state imaging device 610 into an electric signal in a photoelectric conversion process, and the electric signal is read and outputted as an image signal via the substrate 620. In a manufacturing step of assembling the camera module 600, the lens drive mechanism 666 and the optical member 660 are assembled into the frame member 650 to form the lens unit 602, which is then assembled to the sensor unit 601.